Web of The Spider
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Marvel, DC or any other franchise.
Two in one day, I'm on a roll. This has been a bit overdue and I apologize. I found a way to actually move forward with this story and make it longer than the first one.
There might even be a prequel.
Part 2: The Plan Evolves
New York
March 29
"His progress has greatly improved since we bonded him with V3. He's getting stronger and we're increasing his intelligence in more ways than one."
"I understand you're pleased with the new results S1 has been showing but I doubt he will be enough to accomplish any of our goals in the end."
"You still believe that your little sentinel project is the answer Trask?"
"Of course it is Osborn; the sentinel program can lead to the downfall of the Justice League and ensure us control of the population in less than a week." Said Trask
"Your sentinel prototypes have proven to be of no match to S1 during training," said Norman as he folded his hands together. "Furthermore my scientists have told me what you wish to download into the sentinel database to ensure that they know there targets."
"Programing them to destroy every abnormal DNA they find will rid of alien and meta-gene carrying humans on the planet. If we take out those who carry this 'meta-gene' then we can safely wipe out future heroes before they become a threat, cleansing the human race from this freak show nut jobs call 'heroes'. It's also about time we take out Cadmus so as to avoid any further alien contact on the planet." Trask explained.
"I see where you're going at but you forgot one thing," said Norman a little irritated at having this conversation again. "There are still humans out there, who gain there powers in time by some freak accident or those who gain it by some otherworldly device such as the lanterns ring, making them the ones who don't carry a 'meta-gene'. Even so, humans can learn other traits that would make them a worthy adversary. You don't need powers to be a threat."
"I see your point but I believe that the sentinels will prove to be of better use than S1." Trask said with a defiant look in his eye.
"Once again I will remind you that your sentinel program must be approved by the others in our inner circle. I will also remind you that if you're so called 'downfall' to the Justice League can't even lay a scratch on S1, then there not worth much investing."
Spider-Man landed on a rooftop and looked up at the tall tower above.
'Even after all these years they still haven't taken down that tower,' he thought as he webbed over to the building.
Trask industries had once been a broad and financial company that specialized in advanced technology. After the death of the company owner it all fell apart, the company closed down but the tower remained, the city having no idea what to do with it. The simple idea being to leave it as a symbol of the work Trask had done in his prime.
Spider-Man had crawled up to the side of the building all the way to the roof of the tower that had been mostly for helicopter transportation, judging by the H circled in red by on a platform by the edge.
'Let's see; if I was going into a building then I would probably try the door,' thought Spider-Man as he went over one of the many doors on the roof and tried the handle only to have the door collapse as soon as he touched it. 'This building sure has seen better days.'
Walking into the building Spider-Man was meet with near darkness, light only coming from the outside windows. Spider-Man walked somewhat cautiously through the small room; despite it being empty he was still on guard.
He took the door on the far end and found the stairs leading down, and proceeded to walk all the way down the stairs to the bottom. He didn't want to see if the stairs would collapse if he ran.
After three minutes he managed to make to what he assumed to be the main center of the building, filled with offices and windows on the front and back. Each window gave light to the room and showed a view of the city and of the ocean in the back.
Looking around, Spider-Man saw dust all around the office and made his way to the next set of stairs. He wandered around the halls for a good few minutes until he reached a giant white door that was surprisingly locked when he tried the handle.
'Bingo,' he thought as he stepped back and web the door. After a grabbing the webs he pulled on them and soon the door was flying off its hinges. 'Now lets see what's behind door number 3.'
There was nothing in the room.
It was empty, save for dust. The room looked like it hadn't been touched in years, like the rest of the building.
'Osborn knows how to cover his tracks,' Spider-Man thought as he looked at the empty room. 'He must have cleared it out after what he did to Trask.'
With a sigh, Spider-Man made his way out of the building, right back to the roof. He looked out over the city near the edge. The fight with the robotic Rhino played in his head, the way the robot felt so familiar was almost haunting in a way. It reminded him of those sentinels; the robots that he had to fight during training, making scrap of them had been easy.
It had taken him a whole month to overcome the rage the suit had brought and the sentinels had been a good way to take out that frustration.
Peter shook his head. This was no time to be dwelling on the past; he had bigger problems in then future to deal with. With that he leaped; he felt the familiar rush of the air as he fell down the building and then web pulled himself towards another building.
He was soon web swinging throughout the city. He would have to put the search for the robot on hold until he had more leads to go on. But he knew one thing though; the robot and whoever was controlling it had some sort of connection to Trask. They had to in order to find the robot and program it to go after him.
But who would want to go after him?
Thinking about that now, it was a stupid question.
He stopped at the top of a skyscraper and looked down at the moving cars below.
Plenty of people would want to come after him; he just didn't know who it would be at this point. Spider-Man chuckled as he realized just how much things had changed; a year ago he was worried about staying hidden and now he was thinking about who would want to go after him while he was trying to fight crime.
Jumping off the building and web swinging, he couldn't help but nearly laugh at how much he was surprisingly enjoying being out in the open.
'I swear life just gets stranger and stranger everyday,' thought Spider-Man as he landed on the roof of an apartment building. 'I go from trying to fight a spaghetti monster, to fighting a robotic Rhino.'
He swung around another block before deciding that it would be best to head back to his apartment, rethink a few things over and find out where that robot had gone, assuming that the robot could still be found of course.
DDDDDDIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!
The alarm stopped him from jumping off the building he was on the side of. He looked over his shoulder to hear the noise was coming from a bank across the street. Maybe the person at the bank could be…
Spider-Man jumped off the building and swung towards the bank, landing on the roof of it just as he saw four masked men with guns run out towards a truck, each carrying a sack full of money.
'For once I was hoping that the crime would be committed by something non-human,' he thought as he landed on top of the truck before the others could get in. 'As Batman would say; 'Crime never rests', or something dark like that.'
He pulled the gun away from one thug, and webbed the other to the ground before he could raise his gun. His spider sense went off and he jumped into the air to avoid the shots fired at him. With a back flipped he fired off web shots at the barrels of the guns and stopped them from shooting. He then landed back on the truck and folded his arms as he stared at the remaining three thugs who backed away slowly, the fourth struggling under his web restraints.
"I don't know what's more dumber," Spider- Man said as he jumped of the truck and flipped over them landing on his feet as the thugs turned around to face him. "Trying to rob a bank with no real plan or trying to rob a bank in my neighborhood. Both equally stupid mind you."
One of the thugs went to throw a punch at Spider-Man but just as he thought his fist would connect he found himself on the ground, his arm bent and a pile of webs pinning him to the ground.
"On second thought; that was the dumbest thing ever," said Spider-Man.
He saw one of the thugs trying to run but with a quick movement of his wrist he pulled the guy towards him with his webs and when he was near, Spider-Man struck him in the head, knocking him out cold. He then turned his attention to the other thug and simply stuck out his hand. The thug handed Spider-Man the gun and he broke it in two by adding a little pressure to it with his hand. The thug then dropped the sack of money and put his hands up and Spider-Man webbed him to the ground just as he heard police sirens.
'This job does have its easy moments,' he thought as he jumped and web swung away from the bank. He swung until he landed a few blocks away from his apartment and once again he thought of who would want to come after him.
'Let's see, there are four likely candidates for this. One is dead, killed by the one who's in jail right now. That leaves the other two but I'm sure not even they would have been able to use Trask's technology, he didn't show that to anyone really. The only ones who could know about it would probably be dead or have gone into major hiding.'
He thought this through a little bit longer, trying to figure out just what exactly he was missing.
'I get the feeling like I'm missing something, a factor I'm leaving out. I'll have to do some digging later on to figure this out but I will figure it out.'
He then swung back to his apartment, deciding he would have to do some research on his computer for it.
"This is an outrage."
"I understand your anger, it's not misjudged, and the question is; what are we to do about it?"
"It's pretty obvious what we have to do," Jason said as he glared at the table they were all sitting around. "He betrayed us, tried to copy what we have done, so there for he has to die for it."
"You insist we kill him?"
"Yes."
"He does bring up a good point Osborn, if he was to die, then we wouldn't have to worry about anyone revealing our secrets."
"I know that. He has to remain silent and with him out of our grasp he could potentially ruin everything we've strived for. So I have decided to make sure that he ends up taking the fall for everything he has put us through. It won't be the first time we've had to do something like this and I doubt it will be the last."
Osborn took a slight pause as he leaned back into his chair. "Get Beetle to go in on the inside. I have a feeling that little sample Trask took will be his own undoing."
March 30
Belle Reve Penitentiary
"Shouldn't this be a job for the Justice League?"
"Believe me man I wish they would take care of this. But you know those super hero types; they put the bad guys in jail and stop them when they break out."
"I heard that."
The two men were talking to each other while a prisoner exchange was going on. Two cages, where being lifted onto a large plane.
"What does Star Labs want with these two anyway?"
"Probably for some experiments, you know how eggheads are. They see something different they treat it like a new toy." This made the other guard laugh while he looked over a few papers.
"The paper works in order, so I guess it's a go," the prison guard said while he handed it back to the driver.
"Thanks man, hopefully the flight won't be that long," the driver said.
"I feel your pain man. Have a save flight," the guard said.
"Thanks," said the driver.
The driver walks off to the plane and gets. A few minutes later they are above the ground, overlooking the ocean and the driver puts the plane on auto pilot. He takes of the red hat he's been wearing and stretches his arms, feeling constricted while wearing the brown overalls. He walks to the holding bay where the two cages are there, each large in diameter but instead of bars there is a laser grid keeping the occupants in place.
"Wake up, it's time to go to work," the driver says as the occupants turn their attention to him. He calmly runs a hand through his hair and takes off the wig which had made his hair brown back to its natural black. He unzips his overalls and puts a hand on his face before pulling it back, taking off a mask as he did. His face changes shape, going from thin to a more rugged look, a mustache even appearing on his face whereas before there was nothing. His eye color even changes from green to black, giving off a predator glare. From his chest he removes a small patch and his body got bigger, he appears a few inches taller than before, standing at a little over 6'0 and even through his overalls you could see the muscle he had.
"Whoa I had no idea you were still around," the occupant of the first cage said as he stood up.
"You forgot someone," said the guy in other cage.
"I know," the 'driver' said in a different accent than the one he had before. "But Scorpion is not my concern for this matter. I wanted to know how you both would feel about making a little money."
"Does this little job involve Osborn?"
"No, he is still locked up but my employer has requested your services in a simple matter; your both familiar with Spider-Man are you not?"
The occupants in the cage had two separate reactions. One chose to spat on the ground while the other growled loudly.
This caused the 'driver' to smile. "Excellent, our job involves capturing him."
"No surprise there, you were always one for the 'hunt'," sneered one from the cage.
"This Spider-Man does sound like one to put up a challenge, which is why I agreed to take the job in the first place."
Electro folded his arms from inside the cage. "So when are we going to get out of these circus cages?"
Rhino nodded his head.
"As soon as we land at our base, I'll let you out, but for now you'll just have to make due," Kraven said as he felt a tinge of excitement at the thought of hunting Spider-Man.
'Quiet, almost too quiet,' thought Spider-Man as he looked over the streets on the side of a building. A few hours ago he had stopped another attempted robbery and had given pictures to Jameson who had surprisingly ranted for only five minutes this time. He then spent the next few hours searching for Carnage but the symbiote was still nowhere to be seen and crime wasn't being that active today; which is a good thing in Spider-Man's book. But at the same time he couldn't help but feel that something was going to happen today that would seriously affect his mood.
Deciding to go and face whatever fate had in store for him today, Spider-Man jumped off the building and started web swinging for a few blocks. He looked around, searching for anything that could even give a clue as to where Carnage would be that could lead him to him and ultimately put an end to- he suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched. Normally he would just think of himself as being paranoid but if anything in his life he had learned, it was to always trust your instincts.
He soon swung over to a skyscraper and swung by it, making it look like he had swung past it when instead he had landed on the side. He clung to the building and after a few seconds he saw nothing. He waited a little bit longer and when no one showed up he looked around him, thinking the stalker had moved somewhere else. No one was there and that only confused Spider-Man. With one final look he then decided to start webbing away deciding that the incident was just his mind playing tricks on him. As he pulled his arm out to web over to the next skyscraper his spider sense went off and he looked around, lowering his arm until he looked back up at the spot where he was going to make a web.
For a while he stared at the empty space until he shot a web and it hit something invisible in the air. Then a few feet in front of him a ship materialized, the web having hit one of its wings.
Spider-Man had only seen this ship once in one his drawings; the Bioship. It was used only the juniors in the Justice League and he sighed as he realized that it meant they were here as well. Probably here to talk with him about…this is going to suck, where the words his brain could only sum up this chat, might as well get it over with though.
He climbed up the building and stood on the roof just as the ship landed on the roof. Luckily it was large enough to hold them all up here or there would be some problems. As the ship landed, the hatch opened up and out from came all the members of Young Justice, who looked up Spider-Man as they walked out. Some smiled at him while others frowned and a few looked indifferent.
"Hey Spider-Man," Kid Flash said as he waved at the wall crawler. "Hope you had a good holiday."
"Thanks I did," Spider-Man said with uncertainty. "I take it this isn't about me fighting crime out of the blue."
"You totally lied about staying hidden though," said Robin.
"I said I wasn't going to join the League, I didn't say anything about fighting crime," said Spider-Man as he folded his arms. "That was over two months ago anyway, so you're not here for that."
"Very deceptive," Batboy said as he mockingly clapped his hands. "We're here for something else actually."
"This is about the lifeless bodies isn't it?"
His question was met with a few surprised facial expressions and raised eyebrow from Superboy.
"I don't what you think I can tell you," said Spider-Man as he looked at each and every one of them. "But I don't really know anything about what's been going on."
Normally he wouldn't lie about something like this but he knew he had to get them out of here. If Carnage did intend to go after the Justice League than what's to stop him if he decided to go after their sidekicks first, the maniac would enjoy giving them a reason to come after him.
Even at the cost of young, innocent lives.
"We would be likely to believe you but we don't," Artemis stated bluntly.
"Whoever is responsible for doing these attacks has left calling cards," Aqualad said as he looked at Spider-Man in the white eye marks. "Evidence suggests that you know something about this."
"Look, I have my own ways of searching for…whoever is responsible," Spider-Man almost slipped up there. "So if you don't mind I have my own 'investigation' to-" he unfolded his arms and looked to his right as his spider sense activated.
'Oh no,' he thought as he looked back to Young Justice who looked at him in confusion. "Get into the ship and get out of here," he said as his spider sense kept flaring.
"What are talking about?" asked Superboy.
"Just get out of here-"
He landed on the building a smile on his face but it was hard to tell. The first thing he did was take in who he was fighting; Spider-Man and the kiddies of the Justice League.
"I didn't think following you today would lead me to something for once," Carnage said to Spider-Man as an axe formed in his left hand. "Your services are no longer required." He swung the axe at Spider-Man who did a backflip to avoid it. Spider-Man then fired a web ball at Carnage's axe hand and Carnage merely laughed before morphing his hand into spikes and destroying the webs.
"What the heck is that thing," Artemis said as she drew an arrow.
"I'm ashamed dear spider," Carnage said as he placed a hand on his chest in mock hurt. "I thought you would have told them about me."
"Get out of here," Spider-Man repeated to Young Justice, his eyes never leaving Carnage.
Tendrils shot out of Carnage's body as he his fingers grew doubled in size to that of claws.
"You know I can't let them escape," Carnage said as he raised his hand into the air.
"JUMP!" shouted Spider-Man as his spider sense went off.
Carnage planted his hand into the ground and red tendril appendages sprouted up from the roof and started destroying everything in their path. Young Justice was floated up thanks to Miss Martian's powers and the Bioship hovered over the ground. With a jump Spider-Man web pulled over to Carnage, dodging the swinging appendages, and kicked him in the face making him back up near the edge of the building. With a running start Spider-Man grabbed Carnage and made them both plummet off the building towards the ground.
Even though they were both falling to the ground, they still continued to fight. Spider-Man punched Carnage in the stomach but the symbiote retaliated with a kick to his sides. Just as they were nearing the ground they both webbed away from the ground onto the side of the building and they pulled themselves back up into the air. Carnage tried to get onto the sides to climb back up but Spider-Man grabbed him by the arm and kicked him into the building where Carnage left a dent as he hit it on his back.
Spider-Man then pulled Carnage out of the building but ducked just as the symbiote tried to take of his head with a blade. Carnage swung the blade again and Spider-Man grabbed his wrist and plunged the blade into the creatures head and swung them both to the roof of the nearest building. He let Carnage fall down onto the roof with a thud while he webbed the down onto the roof.
Just as he landed Young Justice showed up onto the roof, looking at Carnage who laid there motionless.
"You know that thing is," Batboy said accusing Spider-Man. "That thing recognized you."
"Yeah I know what it is," Spider-Man but he still looked at Carnage and got into a stance. "But it's not over, not by a long shot."
Carnage sprang up from the ground and landed on his feet the blade coming out from his head as it morphed back into his 'normal' hand. The wound on his head where the blade hand penetrated was already healing itself until it looked like he hadn't been struck at all.
"You'll have to do better than that," Carnage said as he glared at Spider-Man.
"It survived a blow to the head," Kid Flash said in astonishment.
"I've survived a lot worse than that," Carnage said as he chuckled as past memories came into his head. "But the difference here is that I'm stronger than last time original. The energy I've drained my victims have made me stronger."
"You're the monster that killed all those people," Robin said as he glared at Carnage from behind his mask.
"Why yes little birdie it was me," Carnage said with pride in his voice. "I hope you saw my work, I tried to make it look as gruesome as possible for the sake of publicity." Then he looked at Spider-Man and he laughed slightly. "I also had to taunt you original, don't forget you're on my hit list as well."
"I understand why I'm on it," Spider-Man said as he glared at Carnage, which you couldn't tell from his mask. "You can try to kill me as much as you want. Just leave them out of it."
Carnage let out a bone chilling laugh as he looked at Spider-Man. "Always the one for other's safety. It's not so different original, when the one's I'm after can fight back."
"You have a problem with us freak," said Superboy.
"Not you per say," Carnage said as he turned his attention to Young Justice. "Your elders are the ones I'm really after. You, fresh meat on the other hand; are just a way to lure them out here. Your deaths will have them here in a heartbeat."
Carnage turned his left hand into an axe and leaped up, using his tendrils to quickly grab Superboy and throw off the building while about to strike Artemis. Before he could bring down the axe a web came over to his weapon hand and pulled him away. He landed a few feet away from Spider-Man.
"Don't think for one second I'm going to let you hurt these kids," Spider-Man growled. "They have nothing to do with your little scheme."
"Oh but they have everything to do with it," Carnage said as he stood up and turned his other hand into a sword. "Their blood will make the Justice League come looking for revenge and I won't have to go through the major trouble of trying to find them. When I kill them, oh let me tell you original, it'll prove that I'm better than you."
As Carnage looked like he was about to strike, from up in the sky giving off an angry yell Superboy came down and landed on Carnage, bringing down both of his fists on the symbiote. Carnage fell to the ground, making a dent on the roof as he did and as Superboy started pounding his fists repeatedly into him a tendril was raised. The tendril slapped Superboy away from Carnage, giving him time to get up and growl as he stood up and more tendrils came from his body.
"Let's see how much innocence you kids posses," Carnage snarled.
Smoke bombs were thrown at Carnage's direction and all he could see was a thick cloud of smoke. He did feel the sting of electricity and the tip of an arrow hitting his chest before it exploded and he felt as if he couldn't move.
Spider-Man watched as in sync the Young Justice team effectively stopped Carnage. It was a task that wasn't easy in itself but he had no doubts of the kids from the start. For now though he had to finish off Carnage. As he turned towards the symbiote he felt the wind change and in front of him stood Kid Flash.
"I think we need to have a talk about this spaghetti monster if you don't mind," the speedster calmly said."
"What's there to talk about? He's the creature responsible for the bodies piling up around here," said Spider-Man.
"How about the fact that you know what this thing is," said Robin.
"Or the fact that you lied about it," said Aqualad.
Spider-Man could tell that he had a bit of explaining to do if he wanted them off his back about the whole situation. He decided to tell them what was necessary and avoid anything that he didn't want them to know.
"The creatures name; is Carnage," Spider-Man began stating the basics. "He's like those symbiote things you saw in DC a few months ago but unlike the others, he's stronger than them."
"We can't forget about the most important part," Carnage said as he lay there helpless in mid air. "Original."
"Why does he keep calling you that?" asked Artemis.
"One of the reasons Carnage is more special than the other suits, is because he's technically a clone," Spider-Man said as he took in a breath. "He's my clone."
"That thing is you're clone," Batboy said in disbelief as he looked at Carnage and then at Spider-Man. "There must have some sort of third party involved in his genetics."
"Nope," Carnage said with too much delight for Spider-Man's liking. "I am one-hundred percent his clone. No other party was involved in making it happen, except for the mind of course that came from someone else."
"True. The reason why he doesn't exactly think or act like me is because he has someone else's brain in his body," Spider-Man explained to them. "It wasn't the sanest of brains, give it that."
Carnage then started snickering and everyone looked at him.
"Mind sharing what you find that's so funny?" asked Kid Flash.
"Oh it's simple," Carnage said as he stopped his snickering. "You all actually believed that you could hold me with something like this."
Carnage's tendrils came out of his body and one of them came straight towards Miss Martian and started choking her by the neck. This made her lose her concentration and Carnage landed on the ground on his own two feet. Aqualad cut off the tendril on Miss Martian with his sword and as she was regaining her breath Carnage laughed.
"Now then, let's get back to the main even," he chuckled as he turned his hand into an axe.
Spider-Man got into a stance and stared down his clone only for his spider sense to go off. He looked up in the air as a gray chopper loomed above the building. The chopper door opened up and in came down to figures that landed on the other side of them. Leaving them trapped in the middle between them and Carnage.
Spider-Man recognized one of them. He was a tall man wearing a black undershirt that showed off the muscles in his arms. He wore gray trousers and combat boots and black fingerless gloves. On his face was black and white like mask on his face, except for his lips.
Spider-Man had only seen Bane once in the news when Batman and Robin had defeated him in Gotham. The other man however; was wearing an orange vest that had brown lions fur on it including green lion like eyes. He had on black trousers and light gray combat boots and black fingerless gloves with zebra colored wrist bands. He had black hair and a hairy black mustache.
His black eyes looked at Spider-Man in a way that reminded Spider-Man of a hunter predator looking at its next catch.
"It seems we have come in the nick of time my friend," the hunter said to Bane, his accent that of Russian.
"Your right Kraven," Bane said while cracking his knuckles. "There appear to be two products of interest now."
"Then this hunt is a two for one deal," Kraven said his twinkled with delight. "It should make our boss very happy."
"What exactly do you two plan on doing?" asked Spider-Man.
Kraven smirked as he got into a predator like stance. "Don't worry about that prey. Just focus on making this a good hunt for the hunter."
"What you're asking me to make is somewhat inhuman."
"You think anything we've had to do up to this point have been 'human' so far. Do you think that what those heroes are doing on the outside world have been 'human'.
"At least they have other means to accomplish their goals besides-"
"I believe that is enough talk from you Dr. Connors. I funded you're research into the prospects of regaining your arm back so I could use the serum for other purposes."
"I didn't think you would intent to use my research for such…such-"
"Evil is the word I believe you are looking for. But you can rest assure that the work I intent to bring to the light will not look as evil as you believe when you see I from another perspective."
"What makes you think that I will continue to work for you after what I just saw?"
"I can easily take away everything I have given you Dr. Connors. I can take that and so much more."
"You wouldn't."
"You can try me. I don't think you're dumb enough to take the risk though. Now if you're done with your pointless fussing you can get back to work on your lizard project."
"You're a mad man Osborn."
"I may be mad to you now but I assure you, you will see as differently in the end one way or another. I have to go now Dr. Connors, business never holds the door anyone these days. Congratulations for you and your wife, I hear she's expecting a boy."
